Developing the mental side of basketball.

TallDude · Dec 13, 2014

I'm very much an amateur at sport photography. With a recent purchase of a 17-50mm f2.8 for my Canon T2i, I've been having better results shooting basketball in poorly lit gyms. My son plays club basketball in these large warehouses converted in to multi-court gyms. I take a ton of shots, catching the boys during jump shots with decent stop action. Every once in a while, a photo grabs my eye. The look in these young players eyes and facial expressions I find intriguing. I'm playing with ISO's, trying to balance shutter speed and noise.

Designer · Dec 14, 2014

Looking good!

TallDude · Dec 15, 2014

Thanks' Designer.
The team parents are really enjoying all the photos of their boys too.

The_Traveler · Dec 15, 2014

Nicely exposed and caught.
Always look at pictures to see how they can be simplified and tension draining space trimmed away.
Since you have clipped the feet, lots of space on the top and sides, makes it look like a framing error.
If you crop closer, that clipped look goes away, you lose a bit of distracting space and get the two crucial elements, the two players at opposing thirds.

TallDude · Dec 16, 2014

Thanks Traveler. I tend to be indecisive on my cropping. All the back ground players looking towards the action, initially seemed to add strength to the photo. I can see when cropped, just the single player beyond maintains that presence and balances the shot. I've started shooting with the camera turned in an upright position. The composition is better given all the vertical action in basketball.

dennybeall · Dec 19, 2014

Agree with the cropping comment and also would suggest limiting the DOF to help focus attention on the action you're capturing.

Tailgunner · Dec 19, 2014

Nice work on the capture and white balance.

Our son plays basketball and I have a "ball" photographing him and his team mates during games. You definitely get some interesting facial expressions for sure. That 2.8 comes in real handy at our gym, I have to open it wide open and bump the ISO a lot in order to get a lot of my shots.